Any project no matter how involved or complex can be frustrating if it does not perform to expectations. I have a working system at my home and it performs to spec with a 70 watt per channel stereo system, several call display units on both phone lines, 3 Macs, 4 modems, an answering machine, a fax machine, and a printer (partridge in pear tree is seasonal). With all this hardware running there has yet been a problem with it other than the outdoor jack several years ago got wet. This made the phone line noisy and it was an obvious find.

GENERAL troubles

-You are using the phone and can hear the music plain as day during conversation. You know the party does not have you on hold because they do not have such excellent taste in music as you do.
-You are listening to a quiet piece at the moment but hear this faint high pitched whine in the background.
-Sometimes the same is heard on the phone and sometimes not.
All of the above troubles could likely be caused by a pinched wire or a staple through the wire. What happens is one conductor of a pair is touching to one of another pair and the result is not a complete circuit but it introduces noise to the related circuit. Very common in jobs that are hastily completed. Or just Mr. Murphy making his rounds. If you have the patience to find and repair the trouble fine, but if not from the central spot if you allowed your self the possibility of disconnecting each cable one at a time to prove this type of trouble, your hair will not be a grey as mine.
Look also to things such as if you ran the wire under a carpet (try not to) and if the piano or some other heavy object (no I'm not going to say any thing about mother-in-laws) is sitting right on top and crushing the poor little defenseless wire. High heeled shoes are also a villain when wire is under the carpet. A 102 lb. woman can without knowing damage a wire in a single bound. Look also to the baseboard run wire and a possible chair or table leg that has the wire pinned to the wall.

The above troubles could be made worse by a wiring technique or time saving measure where the daisy chain method was used. Daisy chaining is the leap-frog method where going from jack to jack to jack with a single cable is used. Try to avoid this method of wiring if for some chance of fate a cable becomes faulty and it is the one that feeds the daisy chain, you will then have to replace or repair the this before it drives you nuts. This will leave you the impression that ALL cables are faulty and initially very difficult to reason why it is happening. But now you know and your aspirin dealer will not thank me but what the heck.

The daisy chain method could compound the trouble if your stereo must have a zone beyond this cable that feeds the daisy chain. By this I mean if you choose to wire all bedrooms with the single cable and it becomes necessary to install a separate phone line to one bedroom or a different speaker zone. By this time a change maybe in the stars for your network and the "one cable, one jack" method will have paid for itself in time, money and faith in man kind.

AppleTalk problems

Foremost if a complete check is done with a meter or some type of continuity tester to put your mind at ease that the wiring is sound and you are having problems with speed and addressing, try the following:
Problem - speed slows or stops when the phone is in use.
- check to see if one of your phones is equipped with an A lead control. This is where the wo & ow are shorted when the phone is picked up. Some answering machines had this feature to signal associated phone equipment to stop ringing when the machine seized the line on answer. Solving this is simple, use a two wire cord to this device or remove the wo & ow from this jack at this location.

Two line answering machines are another story and this issue is best addressed at that time. The time is now. When wiring and planning for these machines that I have seen use the wb & bw for line 1 and wo & ow for line 2. Hey, we are using wo & ow for AppleTalk! Sometimes a machine is equipped with a second mounting cord for line two but be aware that both might still be wired to that first and factory wired cord. This will mean you must avoid wiring to the wo & ow AppleTalk at the cable/jack here. First you have to decide if you want AT at this location or just the answering machine. If you want both please be sure to wire AT THE JACK only the answering machine and mark it in ink. Do not plug in AppleTalk devices to this jack, it will cause problems with the phone and possible damage to the PhoneNet device. Wire another jack at this spot to accommodate AT if needed.

CHILDREN and/or similar visiting dignitary (grandchildren, nieces, nephews)

Children have a curious nature that sometimes is fulfilled by putting those miniature fingers where we cannot. Often a key, pen, Lego block, Barbie shoe or similar has been found lodged in a jack causing Dad or Mom some grief. This grief can be resolved by carefully adjusting the delicate pins within the jack to normal to solve the problem. The problem caused by this could vary and it does not strike when expected or necessarily in the most predictable spots. Putting sticky tape over the jack may not prevent the problem from future events because this may become the "Freud flag". Come and get me, here I am, and words to this effect is what the tape says to children and to those who are a kid at heart.
Dignitaries such as small grandchildren, nieces, nephews were likely not there when the AT was wired and they have no idea what the heck it is (age dependant) so be prepared if you have trouble after a visit.

I know I have not covered all possible trouble spots but with care and patience any problem can be solved. It does work flawlessly when put together correctly, and in the future when ISDN or ATM becomes affordable along with a router for it, you will be ready for it. Well almost, 10baseT does use the same wire but you will have to use 4 wires, 2 for transmit and 2 for receive. But that's then. Should I talk about the home office next?? I may wait until the ATM really gets going first.
Thoughts?